SOCIAL SCIENCE SEMINAR SERIES

Obama's Foreign Policy is Topic Sept. 30

Sept. 25, 2009

James Lindsay, a leading authority on the American foreign policymaking process, will lecture on “The Transformation: Barack Obama and the Remaking of American Foreign Policy” at 7 p.m. on Sept. 30 at the Student Union Theater.

Lindsay recently joined the staff of the Council on Foreign Relations where he directs the studies program. A former staff member of the Clinton Administration's National Security Council, he also served as a Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. Prior to his recent appointment at the Council on Foreign Relations, he was the Tom Slick Chair for International Affairs and inaugural director of the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas’ LBJ School of Public Affairs. 

Lindsay’s research and policy interests have centered on the process and politics of American foreign policy. His contributions to both the academic and policy arena have been substantial, says James M. Scott, head of the political science department at OSU.

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Combining Film and Human Geography: Qanats in the Middle East    

                                                                                                          CLB 313 on Monday, October 5 @3:30 p.m                            

                                                                                                     Joshka Wessels is a well-traveled and award-winning geographer, media & communication specialist and filmmaker who produces human interest, eco-political and environmental television programs that go beyond the surface.  Joshka is associate consultant/trainer in media for development for the Centre for International Development and Training (CIDT), University of Wolverhampton (UK), the MUNDO Centre for Development at the University of Maastricht and associate consultant for the IRC-International Water and Sanitation Centre in Delft, The Netherlands.       

                                                                                                                                                        Dr. Wessels has a M.S. degree in Visual Anthropology from Leiden University (Netherlands) and a Ph.D. in Geography (Development Studies) from the University of Amsterdam.  She has also been educated in Hilversum as a broadcast trainee with the Veronica Broadcasting Company and has also attended UK Filmcouncil and ScriptFactory training programs at the National Film and Television School (NFTS), London.  She speaks fluent Dutch, English, German, French and Syro-Palestinian Arabic.                                                                                                                                

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October 15, 2009 , 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm , Room: TBA - Dr. Lauren Morris MacLean, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, Indiana University - "Why the Cowboys Have to Talk to the Indians: A Comparative History of Deliberative Democracy in U.S. Policymaking"

December 13, 2009, Political Research Seminar Presentation, 3:00 pm - 4:30pm, Location:TBA -      Dr. Nikolas Emmanuel - "Soft Intervention in Africa: U.S. Efforts to Generate Support for Peace"